Page 85 of Home Run

“Hey, have you ever been on Radley’s helicopter?”

Lux looked up from his phone where he’d been reading an article about predictions on which team would progress through to the League Championship Series—Lions were a favorite. “Radley’s helicopter?”

“Yeah, the one she and Millie are flying down on. It’s safe, right?”

“It belongs to the United States Military, so my guess is yes, it’s safe.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.Okay.Good, thought so, just wanted to check.”

“What are you worrying about?” asked Ace, fastening his seat belt as we prepared for takeoff.

We were on the Lions jet heading down to D.C., sitting in our usual group of four seats near the back of the plane where we could usually have a conversation without being overheard.

“Millie’s flying down to D.C. in a helicopter. It made me nervous, is all,” I replied, opening upThe Dad’s Guide to Pregnancy,only to close it again. “They feel flimsy.”

Taking my bag down from the overhead bins, I found the children’s book about Jackie Robinson I’d picked up the other day. It didn’t matter if we were having a boy or a girl, they would be learning about baseball.

Since the first time I’d made a recording for Millie, a couple more followed, and I was getting better at them. I hadn’t given them to her yet, because I wanted her to have more than one when I did, and I’d wanted them to be about more than my feelings for her. Some were short, others were a little longer. I’d recorded how I went through my days, I’d read articles about the baseball season, and now I had a pile of books to read to the baby too.

Lux eased it from my hands and turned it over, studying the illustrated picture of Jackie Robinson on the front, baseball bat over his shoulder. “This is cool. Radley’s mom has one in this series.”

“I think those are books Payton looked after before she moved to adult fiction,” Ace said, peering over. “You think they’ll write about us like this one day?”

I shrugged. “Who knows. If they were going to writeabout anyone, it would probably be Reeves. Maybe Payton could give us the criteria.”

“Yeah.” Lux scoffed a laugh. “Makes you think, though. You’re having a kid, who do you want them to look up to as they’re getting older? I was obsessed with Derek Jeter, but who will it be for our kids?”

“Tanner’s is going to look up to me,” announced Parker, pumping a fist into his chest.

“There’s no way he’ll look up to you more than me,” shot back Ace.

Reaching over, I took the book back. “You’ll all be godfathers, you can fight it out then.”

I was too busy flicking through the story to notice the boys had gone quiet. We were also about to take off, and the revving of the engines cut through the silence. It was only when I turned from peering out of the window that I noticed them all staring at me.

“What?”

“You’re asking us to be godfathers?” said Parker eventually, his voice cracking.

“Yeah, of course. Why? I thought you knew.”

Unbuckling his belt, he jumped out of his seat, except the plane was still ascending steeply and therefore toppled forward with a grunt.

“Dude, what are you doing?” I groaned, pushing him off me.

“Hugging you,” he replied, wrapping his arms around me. “We won’t let you down. We promise. We’ll be the best godfathers.”

“King, get back in your seat,” yelled a voice from midway down the plane.

“Sorry,” Parker yelled back, but did as he was told and stayed there until we leveled out, and the stewards began walking around with snacks and drinks.

“So are you and Millietogethertogether now?” asked Ace. “You seem good.”

I tossed a couple of cashews in my mouth. “We’re taking things very slowly,” I replied, because slowly is what we agreed.

“Didn’t she sleep over though?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

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